Shamakhani: Iran Returns to Talks With Biden Only If 'Sanctions Removed'

Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani in Tehran, Iran, January 17, 2017. (Ebrahim Noroozi/ AP/ File)
Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani in Tehran, Iran, January 17, 2017. (Ebrahim Noroozi/ AP/ File)
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Shamakhani: Iran Returns to Talks With Biden Only If 'Sanctions Removed'

Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani in Tehran, Iran, January 17, 2017. (Ebrahim Noroozi/ AP/ File)
Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani in Tehran, Iran, January 17, 2017. (Ebrahim Noroozi/ AP/ File)

Iran said Sunday the issue of US return to the 2015 nuclear deal is “worthless” if all anti-Iran sanctions are not removed.

“The full and definite removal of all sanctions is Washington’s only option to return from (outgoing US President Donald) Trump’s failed strategy of maximum pressure,” said Ali Shamkhani, the Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC).

In a Sunday tweet with the hashtag #Active_Resistance, he said, “The US war of perception aimed at exaggerating a worthless issue like the country’s return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) will go nowhere.”

In return, President-elect Joe Biden’s National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told CNN that as soon as Iran re-entered compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal, there would be a “follow-on negotiation” over its missile capabilities.

He said that Trump’s actions towards Iran did not make the US safer or protect the US national interests.

“Iran is closer to a nuclear weapon today than they were one year ago,” Sullivan said.

Meanwhile, a new draft law was presented to the Iranian Parliament to ban direct talks with the US government or in the presence of US representatives “unless Washington officially apologizes for exiting the Nuclear Deal and condemns the assassination of General Qassem Soleimani.”

The draft law also stipulates taking financial compensations from the US and European countries in return for the US withdrawal from the JCPOA.

Last month, the Guardian Council of Iran approved a bill passed by the Iranian Parliament, entitled “Strategic Action Plan to Lift Sanctions and Protect Iranian Nation’s Interests” requesting that the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran fulfills in full and without any delay, the country’s demand for uranium enriched above 20% for peaceful purposes.

Last week, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Iran had informed it of its plans to enrich to a purity of up to 20% at its Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant.



ICC Concerned About Hungary's Decision to Withdraw from the Court

Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban (L) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands at the end of a press conference following bilateral talks on April 3, 2025 in Budapest, Hungary. (Photo by Attila KISBENEDEK / AFP)
Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban (L) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands at the end of a press conference following bilateral talks on April 3, 2025 in Budapest, Hungary. (Photo by Attila KISBENEDEK / AFP)
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ICC Concerned About Hungary's Decision to Withdraw from the Court

Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban (L) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands at the end of a press conference following bilateral talks on April 3, 2025 in Budapest, Hungary. (Photo by Attila KISBENEDEK / AFP)
Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban (L) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands at the end of a press conference following bilateral talks on April 3, 2025 in Budapest, Hungary. (Photo by Attila KISBENEDEK / AFP)

The presidency of the International Criminal Court on Thursday expressed concern about Hungary's decision to withdraw from the court.
In a letter to Hungary it urged the country to continue to be a resolute party to the Rome Statute, the founding treaty of the ICC.

Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban said the country would withdraw completely from the court on the same day Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu, indicted by the ICC, visited Budapest.

Orban gave the Israeli leader a welcome with full military honors in Budapest’s Castle District. The two close allies stood side by side as a military band played and an elaborate procession of soldiers on horseback and carrying swords and bayoneted rifles marched by.

As the ceremony unfolded, Orban’s chief of staff, Gergely Gulyás, released a brief statement saying that “the government will initiate the withdrawal procedure” for leaving the court, which could take a year or more to complete.

Orban later said that he believes the ICC is “a political court.”
The ICC, based in The Hague, Netherlands, said when issuing its warrant that there was reason to believe Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant had committed crimes against humanity in connection with the war in Gaza.